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Mandela

Nelson Mandela was a good man. He endured 27 years of imprisonment and came out smiling and holding no grudges against his white jailers. Perhaps in all those years he gained a self-realization that enabled him to rise above hatred and self-interest. It made him the prefect transitional leader for a nation ending years of apartheid.

What I learned from him was how to break the ice when meeting small children. He always asked them what they had for breakfast. It seems like a silly question, but it's a great way to get off on the right foot with young kids.

On a side note, there is a bit of embarrassment concerning the man hired by the South African government to translate dignitary eulogies into sign language. Complaints have poured in from all over the world that what he is doing is not sign language at all and that he is a sham. I saw a split-screen snippet of him and another translator doing Barack Obama in sign language. There is no comparison and it seems the complaints are well justified. This appears to be a con job.

Apparently he was used for a couple of previous events including the 100th anniversary of the ANC. There were complaints then too. He is now claiming to have schizophrenia, which hardly gets the people who hired him off the hook.

"The sign language interpreter at Nelson Mandela's memorial on Tuesday faced a murder charge in 2003. It's unknown if the case was ever concluded as the court file is mysteriously empty. Investigations have found that Thamsanqa Jantjie, who is being treated for schizophrenia, has also faced rape (1994), theft (1995), housebreaking (1997), malicious damage to property (1998), murder, attempted murder and kidnapping (2003) charges. "Many of the charges brought against him were dropped, allegedly because he was mentally unfit to stand trial. "Jantjie was acquitted on the rape charge, but he was convicted of theft for which he was sentenced to three years in prison. It's unclear if he ever spent time in jail."

"Asked by an Associated Press reporter about a murder charge, Jantjie turned and walked away without commenting. Jantjie told AP on Thursday he has been violent in the past and hallucinated during the memorial service as he was gesturing incoherently. "In Washington, Secret Service spokesman Ed Donovan said Thursday that vetting for criminal history and other appropriate background checks of the people onstage were the responsibility of the South Africans. He added that Secret Service agents are 'always in close proximity to the president.' "U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for African Affairs Linda Thomas-Greenfield said 'we're all very upset' about the bogus interpreter, who appeared just three feet from Obama at the memorial ceremony."